It is a relief for two businessmen charged with obtaining Sh 7.5 million by false pretences after they were finally released on bail.
Bashir Ali Gabow and Mohammed Muhamud Abdi who were represented by lawyer Danstan Omari were each granted a cash bail of Sh 1.5 million.
In addition, the duo will produce two Kenyan contact persons.
The court further ordered the two to deposit their passports in court pending the hearing and determination of the case.
In addition, the accused persons were ordered not to interfere with witnesses and to report to the OCS once a week starting August 2022.
The two businessmen have been in custody since March 2022.
They were charged with obtaining Sh 7.5 million from Amina Elmi Hassan by pretending that they were capable of selling Akrama Apartment limited shares to her, a fact they knew to be false.
According to the police, the two committed the offence on 25th February 2019 at South B in Makadara, Nairobi.
Gabow and Abdi denied the charges. The prosecution applied to have the denied bond on grounds that they were foreign nationals.
Their lawyer Danstan Omari told the court that the prosecution was taking advantage of the fact that the accused persons were foreigners to deny them bail.
He said that bail is a constitutional right to all accused persons including foreigners.
“If there was to be any suspicions of fake passports, then the immigration could have been informed immediately. The investigating officer could have followed up the matter and reported to court rather than keeping the accused persons in custody for that long,” Omari added.
While granting the duo bail, Principal Magistrate A. Opondo ruled that the police failed to demonstrate why the accused should continue to stay in custody.
